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Why the Epson Home Cinema 3700?

With big family electronics purchases often saved for Christmas, you might be in the market for a new television. But before you plunk down hundreds of dollars on another flat screen that’s only a marginal improvement on the last flat screen and is almost guaranteed to seem a bit small when you get it home in your living room, why not step up to a projector? The Epson Home Cinema 3700 can project a bigger and brighter picture than most flat screens–at a better price per square inch than just about anything.

Epson Home Cinema 3700 Specifications

The Epson Home Cinema 3700 is a 3LCD projector that projects in 1080p, meaning you’ll get a picture that’s every bit as crisp as any of the flat screens at the local big box store. The 3LCD means the projector uses 3-chip technology, which Epson claims will result in colors that are three times brighter than competitive projectors, both colors and whites outputting at up to 3,000 lumens, which should be enough for even rooms with windows. Having colors match the brightness of whites onscreen mean everything seems balanced. What’s more, the projector boasts a contrast ratio up to 70,000:1, for some dark blacks. The picture is stunning!

A projector can throw a 110″ picture on to a wall in a very short distance–as little as ten feet. But that’s just one option. The 3700 can show a crisp image at 30 inches to 300 inches, all in a short space, thanks to its 1.6x zoom and auto iris lens.

Additionally, the 3700 has built-in, dual 10 watt speakers, which actually are pretty decent–if the projector is sitting just above or in front of you and are adequate when you have no other options, but for serious sound, you are going to want to hook the projector up to a receiver or amplifier and speakers. And if you’re up for it, the 3700 can project 3D movies (glasses not included).

Getting the Home Cinema 3700 from the store to your living room won’t be a challenge. You won’t need to borrow the neighbor’s truck or clean out the back of your van. At about 16″ x 12″ x 6″ and just 15 pounds, you could bring this one home from the store on a bicycle–just another benefit of a projector over a big, awkward flat screen.

Setup is a breeze. Just plug in the projector, connect your video device, make a couple, quick focus adjustments, and you’re off and running. The projector has a home button, which directs you to some simple settings. You can go deeper and detailed if you wish, of course, but if you get lost, a simple tap of home and you’re back to familiar territory. Aside from the power, there are a handful of outputs on the back: two HDMI (one for MHL), a USB, audio out jack, and a D-Sub 15-pin connector.

The projection screen is the most visible part of your two-piece projection system. It’s also the most vulnerable to damage and grime. To avoid getting dusty or dirty, a screen should always be kept retracted into its case when not in use. But if something does happen that requires the screen surface be cleaned, here are a few tips for cleaning projection screens without damaging the surface.

Wear gloves.
It would be a shame to get fingerprints or fingernail scratches on a viewing surface which you are painstakingly trying to clean. So, be sure to wear gloves any time you are cleaning or adjusting the projection surface—especially if it’s a premium surface like TecVision. Latex works best—no lint or scratchy fibers are left behind.

Don’t let it wait.Keep the projection surface free of dust. Don’t let it build up over weeks or months. If there is something more serious to contend with—like foreign matter, dirty fingerprints, or some type of stain—then take action immediately to avoid it setting and becoming harder to clean off.

Use something soft.
Whatever you do, don’t grab a scrubbing sponge or some other hard, scratchy cleaning tool. Some viewing surfaces can be easily damaged by using rough materials. A soft, lint-free cloth—cotton or microfiber—is preferred. And when you clean, be gentle. Instead of taking the Karate Kid approach—“wax on, wax off”—try blotting with the cloth. Some standard products, such as Matt White surfaces, can withstand gentle wiping. If you are cleaning a high gain or retro-reflective surface, try using a soft brush—again, very gently.

Be wary of chemical cleaning solutions.Never use cleaners that contain abrasives, wax, or harsh chemicals. For most applications we recommend simply using water. If that doesn’t clean the spot, try a simple solution of dishwashing liquid and warm water.

Never use Armor All®.
Years ago, people apparently used Armor All® to clean projection surfaces. In a way it made sense, after all—most projection screens are vinyl. But there’s more to a flexible projection screen than vinyl. It’s the coating over the vinyl that actually does the work, and using something like Armor All® can wind up damaging the projection surface.

New design could also make conventional 2-D video higher in resolution and contrast.

Over the past three years, researchers in the Camera Culture group at the MIT Media Lab have steadilyrefined a design for a glasses-free, multiperspective, 3-D video screen, which they hope could provide a cheaper, more practical alternative to holographic video in the short term.

Now they’ve designed a projector that exploits the same technology, which they’ll unveil at this year’s Siggraph, the major conference in computer graphics. The projector can also improve the resolution and contrast of conventional video, which could make it an attractive transitional technology as content producers gradually learn to harness the potential of multiperspective 3-D.

Multiperspective 3-D differs from the stereoscopic 3-D now common in movie theaters in that the depicted objects disclose new perspectives as the viewer moves about them, just as real objects would. This means it might have applications in areas like collaborative design and medical imaging, as well as entertainment.

The MIT researchers — research scientist Gordon Wetzstein, graduate student Matthew Hirsch, and Ramesh Raskar, the NEC Career Development Associate Professor of Media Arts and Sciences and head of the Camera Culture group — built a prototype of their system using off-the-shelf components. The heart of the projector is a pair of liquid-crystal modulators — which are like tiny liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) — positioned between the light source and the lens. Patterns of light and dark on the first modulator effectively turn it into a bank of slightly angled light emitters — that is, light passing through it reaches the second modulator only at particular angles. The combinations of the patterns displayed by the two modulators thus ensure that the viewer will see slightly different images from different angles.

The researchers also built a prototype of a new type of screen that widens the angle from which their projector’s images can be viewed. The screen combines two lenticular lenses — the type of striated transparent sheets used to create crude 3-D effects in, say, old children’s books.

The Home Cinema 750D is a smaller projector, measuring only a fraction of the size that the 8350 is, but delivering some features that were absent in the larger, more expensive model. For those living on something of a budget or in an area that has limited space, you might find this being worth your time and money.

To mention it right off the bat, the 750HD has 3D capability and this may be a selling point for some consumers. Unfortunately, 3D is a technology that is yet to catch-on to the same effect that HD did, meaning it’s not something that will be universally adopted. It’s an interesting feature to have and works well, particularly if you’re playing a game or if you own a PC graphics card that has 3D capabilities, but overall 3D is more of a gimmick than a selling point. Still, seeing Batman Arkham City in 3D via Xbox 360 is pretty awesome and because the projector comes with a pair of 3D glasses (normally around $99 each), it’s that much more of a bargain.

Another important factor is the resolution, clocking in at a disappointing 720p. Normally consumers will want to upgrade to 1080p when your picture sits at 42” or more, so with the 90” screen that the 750D offers, 720p doesn’t reach the full potential that you may want from a home cinema. What is impressive, and quite so, is the 3,000 lumens that this bad boy pumps out. Lumens are essentially how bright the projector is and with 3,000 of them blasting onto your projector surface you’ll find quickly that you can see the screen easily, even with natural ambient light shining through your windows. The downside to a projector that bright is that in your dorm room or smaller apartment, turning the lights out for a movie night will only make the projector seem brighter, which may kill any mood you’re trying to set.